Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

An academic support program at Central Michigan University that debuted last year increased retention rates and boosted grades by helping students transition to university life.

Students who participated in the Success Seminar learned to develop critical skills like stress and time management, said Evan Montague, executive director of academic advising and student success. They were also empowered to ask for help.

“We’re going to normalize raising your hand, to ask for help, and communicating with faculty members for assistance,” he said. The program targeted students whose first-semester freshman year grade point average didn’t meet a 2.0 threshold.

The program is broken into five, hour-long sessions that cover different topics like a reflection of the previous semester, time and stress management, study techniques and building a plan to achieve success going forward, Montague said.

Sessions were scheduled early in the semester so students could apply what they learned right away, he said. This year’s students expect to complete the program by the end of February.

Students who completed the program last year improved their grade point averages by an average of 28%. They also returned to CMU for the fall semester at a rate 12.5% higher than students who didn’t complete or participate in the program.

The improvements are heartening, Montague said.

“I’m pleased that our academic advising group stepped up to do this,” he said. “I’m really proud of our team.”

Montague credits the program’s success, in part, to its face-to-face component, pairing students with academic advisers and tutors. Holding the sessions in Park Library – a convenient, central location – helped students see it as a learning hub.

This is the program’s second year. Montague expects to tweak it based on feedback from the advisers to better support students. They are also looking at ways to reach students very early in their time at CMU.